SOPHIE opened her eyes to an endless sea of red sand and a bright, unforgiving sun. At first she thought she was in the Wastelands, but as she examined her surroundings she saw the unmistakable impact scars from asteroids. She was on Mars.

She closed her eyes, expecting to wake up when she opened them. But as soon as her eyelids flicked open, her vision was filled once more with red sand.

Am I dead?

It was the only explanation.

“Dr. Winston,” a familiar voice said from behind her.

She turned to see a hologram of Dr. Hoffman standing a few feet away, his arms folded across his chest.

“If you are seeing this message, then not only have I underestimated you, but you have beaten the odds. You have shown an impressive resilience, Dr. Winston. In fact, I never believed you had it in you. Now, what I am about to tell you is going to come as a shock. You’re going to be confused and angry. But you have to understand that what I have done was for the good of all mankind.”

He paused and looked down in her direction, his obsidian eyes burning into her own.

“You see, the Biosphere mission was always a failsafe. It was one of many we strategically placed throughout the world in preparation for the invasion, little vaults of humanity’s treasures, if you will. We selected teams of people from all walks of life, promising them all whatever they needed to be offered in order to accept the mission. In your case, it was a trip to Mars—a trip I’m afraid you will never be making.”

Sophie tried to move, but she was paralyzed. Her lips quivered with anger as she listened, unable to respond.

“I know this information must be devastating, but as I said, I did this to save our species. When we realized the world was dying faster than we ever predicted, we decided it was time to colonize Mars. But when we found out about the Organics, we knew we couldn’t pin all our hopes on the Red Planet. We needed to plant the seeds for our survival on Earth as well.”

Dr. Hoffman sighed, dropping his hands to his sides.

“You see, the Organics weren’t trying to exterminate us in 2055—they were just testing our defenses. They came here, as you probably know by now, for water. We don’t know how much they will take or if they will ever leave, but I do know if even a few of the Biospheres survive, our species will have a fighting chance.”

“If I know you as well as I think I do, you are probably furious right now, and this last bit of information I am going to share is going to upset you even more. By the time you get this message, we will probably be well on our way. I set up one final failsafe: Secundo Casu.”